"Well,
it's grand, epic, melodic and uplifting...for the most part. Of course
an entire concert of that would be akin to 'Chinese water torture.'"

Jeff Rona

Fresh off of the success of
award-winning documentary, SHARKWATER, composer Jeff Rona talks
about his latest project - composing a symphony for the regatta
events of the Beijing Olympics. He shares candidly about the
challenges organizationally and musically that effort has faced, as well as detail regarding the music
and performers themselves.

JEFF RONA: Isn't that
a nice thing? It seems
to have meant quite a
bit to a lot of
people. It certainly
brought success to the
film-makers. They were
just at Cannes
announcing their next
project.

CC: Do you think you
will be involved with
them again?

JEFF RONA: Oh god,
yes.

CC: Among the 26 or so
awards the film has
garnered, you've
gotten a "Best Score"
award.

JEFF RONA: Yes, from
ASCAP, just last week.

CC: Congrats on
that too...and then
again for your
involvement with the
Beijing Summer
Olympics! That's huge.

JEFF RONA: Oh yes.
That's been my main
focus the last few
weeks. It came up as a
possibility late last
year and so I went out
to China in January to
really talk it
through. I only
started writing a
couple of months ago
in February and March.
I'm writing a
symphonic suite for
live performance. We
are going to do a
4-city tour with 120
piece orchestra.

CC: What cities are
you going to perform
in?

JEFF RONA: The plan is
for Shanghai, Beijing,
Hong Kong and the
final city being
Qingdao. This is where
Olympic regatta, all
the Olympic boating
events, will be held.
This city, Qingdao, is
on the coast, of
course, and they have
built their own
Olympic village,
will be doing their
own ceremonies and so
on. Our tour will be
the week leading up to
the actual Games. So
we'll be going town to
town with this huge
orchestra and some
Chinese
instrumentalists and
also a couple of vocal
soloists.

CC: It's interesting
that you're scoring
the regatta portion of
the Olympics, since
you've also scored Sharkwater and White
Squall. Is "water"
sort of a theme for
you?

JEFF RONA: Well, those
two are both bad
things that happen in
water. This one is a
good thing! But
seriously, there's no
relationship. (laughs)

CC: So have you
completed writing it?

JEFF RONA: Yes. It's
pretty well done and
we are going to record
it in July and then
do the concerts in
August.

CC: You'll do the
recording in China as
well then.

JEFF RONA: Yes. We were commissioned
by the orchestra. It's
their concert, their
show, their thing.

CC: Now are you
working with Chen
Qigang, who is the
music director for the
opening and closing
ceremonies in any way?

JEFF RONA: No. This is
unrelated.

CC: So there's no
thematic bridge to
what they are working?

JEFF RONA: No. This is
a long story, but it
was very important to
them to have their own
theme - that is just
for "the ocean." So I
have written this
great, big "ocean
theme."

CC: Very interesting.
I had read some things
about Chen Qigang
being in the L.A. area
and hiring composers
to work on this
project, so I thought
there would be some
sort of connection.

JEFF RONA: This came
about through a
completely different
route. I did hear that
KLAUS BADELT is
writing something for
the closing
ceremonies.
Other than that, I
don't really know who
has jumped in to
write. Do you know
anyone else?

CC: All I have read is
that there was a
falling out between
composer TAN DUN and
the ceremonies
director, Zhang Yimou.
And that's who I
thought was one of the
most natural choices
to write the music for
the games.

JEFF RONA: I believe
he was writing for a
while. I went to China
and met with composer
ZHAO JIPING, who is
such a gentlemen, such
a lovely guy. Now he
was the head of the
music committee for a
fair period of time.
This was pre-Tan Dun.
Tan Dun then said that
he didn't want to do
it, so Zhao Jiping and
his son, ZHAO LIN, was
said to be doing it.
And he, ZHAO LIN, is
still involved
actually. So I met
with him and we talked
and I gave him a bunch
of music. He seemed
very excited about the
possibilities and then
he quit. Then Tan Dun
was doing the music
for a while, but then
stepped down, saying
that he'd write but
that he didn't want to
be involved in the
planning. Then Quincy
Jones was supposed to
be involved but he
also stepped down.

CC: Sounds like it has
been quite a saga
already!

JEFF RONA: Yes it has.
I have also been
talking to them about
several projects that
would be linked to
this main project, but
for right now, I'm
doing this, which is
huge anyway! I have
written an hour of
music. Now that it is
written, we've talked
about playing it for
some of the other
aspects of the games,
but as of now it is
going to be this
concert and for the
Qingdao Symphony to
perform in the four
cities.